If you don’t have a fax machine, this is a great alternative. For a small business just starting out, it can even mean lower start-up costs. There is even the option of having documents faxed for free.

Free Online Fax Services

That’s right. There are online fax services for free. You can send faxes at no cost. So, what’s the catch? As usual with almost any free online service, the catch comes in the form of advertising. Yes, the free services will attach an advertising banner or sheet to your fax. Don’t worry. They don’t ruin your original document with advertising. So, you can still safely send the fax. However, it might not be appropriate for situations like faxing your resume to a potential employer. However, if you’re faxing government documents, you shouldn’t be concerned because they can’t deny your paperwork if advertising is on the cover sheet. A simple Internet search for the term “free online fax” will give you some choices.

Paid Online Fax Services

If you find yourself in one of those situations where having advertising come through with your fax is not appropriate, then you can use a paid service. A paid service is also the better way to go if you find you need a dedicated fax number to receive faxes. The paid services give you your own fax number and can even deliver incoming faxes to your email address. That means you won’t have all that paper flying around your office. These services typically cost around $7 dollars per month for a good service. They limit you to around 300 to 500 faxes per month. If you need more, you can upgrade to a higher-priced plan. There is even the option of keeping the lower-priced plan and paying around three cents per extra page. Once again, search on the internet only this time using “online fax” as your search term. You’ll be presented with many options for providers offering their fax services.

Tips for using online fax services

First, there is the problem of your personal signature. If you’re creating documents on the computer, it’s not so easy as signing the screen. However, there is a solution to this problem. You will need a picture of your personal signature which can be inserted into the documents. So, how do you go about getting your signature into a picture file? Well, the first option is to use Microsoft paint. You can open paint and simply use the mouse to write your signature. However, you will probably find that using the mouse is uncomfortable and the final result is no where near what your signature normally looks like. That’s okay because there is a better option; Write your signature on a piece of paper and scan it. If you have a scanner at home, then you are set. If not, simply visit your local copy shop (remember to bring your USB stick). They can scan it for you and save it to a picture file. Once you’ve got a good copy of your signature, you won’t need to print. You simply type out your document, insert your signature file, and send it with online fax. This saves you a lot of time printing and fumbling with a fax machine.

Once you’ve got your signature handled, don’t be afraid to use it. This is your signature after all, and you are the one authorizing the documents with it. So don’t be shy about using it for official purposes including government documents. Your signature is yours, and it’s legal. Once you realize how much time you’re saving, you won’t shy away from handling paperwork. What once took you 3 hours can now be finished in 30 minutes.

Conclusion

Online fax services are great for saving time and money. Aside from not having to buy a fax machine, they cut down on office clutter because everything is electronic. If you only need to send a few faxes every now and then, you should stick to using the free services. If you’re running a small office, then the paid online fax services are a great alternative.